NEWS & ANALYSIS

Honour Mandela by fighting white elite economic domination - COSATU

Federation says apartheid separate development still being perpetuated by the govt’s neolioberal policies

The best way to honour Madiba’s and preserve his legacy is to fight against the domination of the economy by a tiny white elite

The Congress of South African Trade Unions joins millions of South Africans and global citizens to celebrate the International Nelson Mandela Day. The 18th of July was declared by the UN General Assembly in 2009 as International Nelson Mandela Day.

This commmemoration comes at a time when globally the world is in dire need of inspiring and visionary political leaders. The leadeship of President Mandela’s stature is needed now more than ever.

President Nelson Mandela will be remembered for his words of wisdom and amongst the most profound quotes is the following; “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

COSATU is therefore deeply dissapointed that in South Africa, there is still very little that has been done to fight the economic domination by a white minority. Apartheid which was a systemized the racial oppression of black and other people of colour has not been totally dismantled because the aparthed’s so called separate development is still being perpetuated by the government’s neolioberal policies.

Twenty four years after the democratic breakthrough the majority of black workers are still only usefull for only generating wealth that keeps the small white population in comfort and secure. The majority of black workers are still treated as inferior and the manority of black students to still get only rudimentary education, health and nutrition.

It is therefore galling to see many in the corporate sector in South Africa are using the commemoration of Madiba as a Public Relations stunt while they continue to exploit workers and perpetuate everything Madiba stood for.

Keeping the legacy of Madiba alive is about supporting policies that tackle poverty, disease, lack of education and general underdevelopment that apartheid bequeathed to the black majority of South Africans.

The fight against corruption and wasteful expenditutre will go a long way honouring Madiba and keeping his legacy alive. We are fully behind the efforts by Cyril Ramaphosa to breathe life into our economy and kickstarting the moral regeneration or the RDP of the Soul that was close to Madiba’s heart.

President Ramaphosa has done a commendable work to revive the dream of people Madiba , who gave so much for the people of this country.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has our suport as he works to clean up government and reposition the ANC and government to provide political and moral leadership to society. We call on him to honour Madiba by prioritising job creation and transformation. He needs to do this by accelerating the implementation of the ANC resolution, shift the macroeconomic policy framework and also firmly dealing with indiscipline in the ANC and corruption in government.

COSATU will continue to honour Madiba by fighting what has now become a crisis of sustainability that is posing a threat to our environment and climate. We shall also continue to relentlessly deal with a systemic crisis that sees the rich forcing the poor to keep their wage levels low, combined with worsening levels of unemployment. Currently we have an economy that produces a lot of products and services that are not finding markets since people earn less and unemployment.